


Like Riding a Bike

by things_that_matter



Series: CMBYN: Life with Ollie [14]
Category: Call Me By Your Name (2017), Call Me By Your Name - All Media Types, Call Me by Your Name - André Aciman
Genre: Discipline, Domestic Fluff, Family Feels, Intimacy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:06:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28771329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/things_that_matter/pseuds/things_that_matter
Summary: Elio forgot to teach his brother an important life skill.
Relationships: Oliver/Elio Perlman
Series: CMBYN: Life with Ollie [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2094873
Comments: 7
Kudos: 15





	Like Riding a Bike

“I’m bored,” Ollie complained. 

“I’m sure I could find some chores for you to do,” Oliver immediately offered without looking up from the stack of work that had captured his full attention for the past two hours. 

Elio rolled his eyes at this overused remark. “Want to play chess?” Elio offered instead. 

Ollie shook his head. Then he looked hopefully in Oliver's direction. “I’ll play chess with Oliver,” Ollie said. But Oliver didn’t answer. Elio doubted he even heard the question, so keen was his focus on his work. 

“He’s doing something for work,” Elio explained. "But I could play with you. I know how to play chess, too, you know." 

Ollie shook his head. 

Elio shrugged in a _so-be-it_ gesture, and then turned his attention back to his book. 

Ollie remained firmly planted, standing in middle of the room glancing from one to the other and back again. When no one offered any further entertainment options, he whined again, "I'm so _bored_." 

Elio and Oliver looked in his direction at the same time, each offering their own words of disapproval. They didn't like whining. Ollie couldn't understand them since they spoke at the exact same time, but he understood their meaning. He looked very glum as he turned and wandered toward his room. 

After a few minutes, Elio began to feel guilty for not being more helpful. With a short sigh, he placed his book, face-down and opened to his page, on the coffee table and went to check on his little brother. He found Ollie sitting on his bed playing with a piece of string. He did, in fact, look quite bored. He was sliding the string around on his lap and making sad snake noises. Elio hadn't realized a snake could be sad, but he was now convinced. 

"Ollie, why don't you go ride your bike?" he suggested. It was one of Ollie's favorite pastimes. He had recently been allowed to ride his bike in the cul-de-sac, though not down the road yet. Still, since his domain had been expanded from the driveway to the cul-de-sac, he had been happily riding his bike every day without fail. 

Today though, Ollie shook his head. "I don't want to," he said quietly, still looking at the string in his hand. 

Elio got an uneasy feeling about Ollie's tone and demeanor. "Why not?" he asked, alert. 

"Just don't," Ollie replied. 

"Well, I want you to," Elio said. He was exploring now, trying to uncover if something was wrong. 

Ollie looked up at him, puzzled. Elio didn't generally attempt to direct his free time. 

Elio just nodded, as if to reaffirm his previous statement, "I want you to." 

Ollie began looking anxious and upset, and Elio's uneasy feeling began to put down roots. 

"I don't WANT to," Ollie said, more forcefully. 

"Well, I _want_ you to," Elio said. He felt a little embarrassed when he heard the petulance in his own voice, and was thankful that they were alone at the moment so no one could hear it. 

"I DON'T WANT to," Ollie upped the ante on the petulance. At least he had an excuse, being seven. 

"What are you two arguing about?" called Oliver, annoyed, from the other room. 

Ollie looked at Elio in a very little brotherly manner and then muttered, "I'm telling." 

Ollie took off down the hallway leaving Elio still standing in his room shaking his head. "Telling?" he muttered to himself. _He wouldn't even dignify that with a response_ , he thought. But yet he found himself defensively following Ollie down the hallway in a very older brotherly manner. 

"Elio's trying to make me go ride my bike and I don't wanna," Ollie complained to Oliver. 

"Why don't you want to?" Oliver supplied the natural response. 

"I just don't WANT TO," Ollie growled. 

A questioning look passed between Elio and Oliver. 

"First, don't yell at us," Oliver said calmly. "Second, sit down," Oliver added, indicating a rarely used chair in the room. 

Ollie walked over to it and sat down with an agitated huff.

Elio went over to sit by Oliver, still very confused and concerned, wondering how a relaxing day of book reading had suddenly turned so tumultuous. Once everyone was seated and a few moments had passed, Oliver directed a question at Ollie, "Feeling better?" 

Ollie nodded, but he didn't look like he felt much better. 

Oliver accepted it, though, and continued. "Okay, good. Now why don't you want to ride your bike?" he asked. 

Ollie answered immediately, "I just don't want to." It was a simple enough answer, but it was easily apparent that something more was going on. 

"Ollie, it seems like there is some reason why you've been riding your bike every single day and now suddenly you are so adamantly set against it," Elio stated. 

Ollie didn't reply, but looked unhappily at the string he was still holding. 

"So, we want to know if something has happened that has made you suddenly not want to do something that you were so excited about every day until today," Oliver added. 

Ollie looked up from his string, his eyes bright with emotion. "The other kids make fun of me," he mumbled. 

Elio sat up straighter and leaned forward in his seat. His jaw was firmly set. He was clearly not happy with the idea of his brother being teased. Oliver rested a hand on Elio's thigh in a calming gesture, then asked, "What did they make fun of you about?" 

Ollie had wrapped the string tightly around his finger without realizing it. A nervous gesture, Elio recognized. Elio walked over, picked up his brother, and then sat in the chair he had been occupying. He placed Ollie on his lap, then he worked on unwrapping the string from his finger. 

As soon as the string was removed, Ollie jerked his hand away and crossed his arms angrily. Eventually, though, he answered Oliver's question, "I'm the only one who has training wheels!" 

Elio felt a blanket of guilt fall over him, as cold as a mid-winter snow. He watched as his little brother's cheeks reddened with shame. Why hadn't he taught him how to ride his bike yet? Just when he thought he was getting the hang of things, something like this happened reminding him in no uncertain terms that he was woefully ill-equipped. 

Oliver remained rational though, "That must have been upsetting. But, Ollie, this is an easy problem to fix. We can teach you how to ride a bike this weekend." 

Ollie looked doubtful. "It will be hard though!" 

"That's okay. You can do hard things," Oliver replied automatically with the mantra they both reinforced with him as often as they could. 

Ollie looked at Elio, knowing he was the more protective of the two. 

"What if I fall?" he asked. 

"I won't let you fall," Elio promised. 


End file.
